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In light of the real reasons for Latham’s sacking or departure, I suggest the Financial Review hire a female columnist from the left. I can think of no one better than black feminist socialist and unionist Celeste Liddle. She blogs at Rantings of an Aboriginal feminist. Have a read. If not her then there are literally thousands of left wing women who could do a millions time better job than Latham did, including many of my comrades in Solidarity. However they have higher standards than me so they might not accept writing for the bosses’ newspaperand giving it the occasional left wing cover.

The reform impasse arises because the essential social democratic desires of the working class, born of the necessity to sell our labour power to survive, conflicts with the needs of capital to extract even more surplus value from us in the form of profits and the like, a profit which we create but which the bosses purloin as our unpaid labour.

A letter of mine in today’s Australian Financial Review in defence of the CFMEU building union and safety on site. http://www.afr.com/p/opinion/safety_the_top_priority_for_unions_Yk2q2HAF0tkhZYO1J7nH7L

Most politics, ‘debate’ and commentary today is about discerning the difference between the shit sandwiches on offer. It doesn’t deal with the obvious. It’s still a shit sandwich, whether it is Gillard or Abbott selling it.

With news that the Financial Review has sacked Keynesian John Quiggin (whose columns I enjoy very much for their insights and facts), it seems clear their trickle to the right is in danger of becoming a flood. It is a pity my union, the MEAA, is not strong enough to defend John specifically and more generally to stop the tsunami of Murdochization now happening at the paper.

The important thing is to learn the lessons from the AFR for the coming battles, not to be seduced by them. When the class struggle erupts, forget the Financial Review and join the workers on the picket line. Organise, organise, organise, knowing that the AFR and the other bourgeois papers are your class enemy, not your friend.